The next morning, I was woken up as usual by Adel. We immediately went to the vanity table for the morning routine. Once I was dressed and ready, we headed to the dining room for breakfast.
Arriving there, I was surprised to see that Father and Mother were present. It seemed the twins' efforts last night had paid off—to an extent. They were here, but they still seemed to keep their distance. Mother sat not in her usual seat; she was positioned one seat further away from Father than normal.
I took my seat. Father clapped his hands, and the servants brought the food. Everything proceeded as usual, with one glaring difference: the room was deafeningly quiet. There was no exchange of words between Father and Mother. Even the twins ate in silence.
The first one to finish the meal was Mother. Immediately, she stood up and left the room. I glanced at her plate and saw leftovers. Usually, she didn't leave a single crumb.
After Mother left, Father finished his meal, followed quickly by the twins. I was surprised by everyone's behavior, especially because they too left food on their plates—plates that were usually wiped clean.
I finished my meal and returned to my room.
Inside, I found a table and chairs set up with a tea set and some snacks. They had appeared suddenly after breakfast; there had been nothing there when I woke up. I sat down, and Adel poured me tea.
From the balcony, I looked down into the garden. The twins were there with the four children and their maids.
It seemed they were trying to find flowers. I watched them running around, collecting blooms of many different colors. The maids showed them how to string the stems together to make headbands. After the demonstration, all the children sat in a circle and started struggling to weave the flowers.
"It is adorable," I said to Adel, taking a sip of tea. "They are trying to make headbands from flowers."
"Maybe My Lady can join them…" Adel suggested softly.
"Maybe, or maybe not."
"I think the headbands are for His Grace and Madam."
"It is so adorable of them that they are doing all of this just for Father and Mother to make up."
"Well, you can follow them and find something for His Grace and Madam too."
"I think my own health is great for them," I chuckled. "If I go out without them knowing, I think it will make the situation worse."
I kept watching them from a distance. The first one to finish a headband was Aelia, followed by Felix, Alicia, Ophelia, and finally Aurelio. Alecia was the only one who didn't finish hers. I thought she could have done it, but she seemed to find it boring and abandoned the task halfway through.
After that, they all went inside the house.
"My Lady, do you want to follow them and watch?" Adel asked me, referencing what I had done yesterday.
"I think no. Let's just wait here and take the time waiting for Lady Octavi to come for tutoring."
I waited on the balcony for some time until Lady Octavi arrived. She entered the room and began our lesson.
While tutoring, something felt odd. The usual sound of clashing wooden swords from the garden was absent. The lesson itself was shorter than normal, finishing quickly.
After the tutoring, Lady Octavi transitioned from my tutor back to my lady-in-waiting. We sat on the balcony to have tea. Looking down, we noticed Alecia was back in the garden alone. She wasn't wearing her maid attire, but plain clothes and brown pants. She was swinging a wooden sword vigorously.
"It seems Father is absent to teach her some sword lessons," I observed.
"I think it is not only His Grace who is absent," Lady Octavi replied. "Madam is absent too to teach Alicia and Aelia."
"Really?? I feel bad for that."
"On my way here, I saw the Young Master and the Young Lady go to the third floor with some headbands in their hands."
"Ahh, the headbands that they made…" I smiled.
I watched Alecia swinging her sword alone in the grass. An idea struck me.
"How about we go to the garden, and Lady Octavi, can you be her sword tutor for today?" I pointed at Alecia.
"If that is what My Lady wishes, I will be obliged to fulfill it."
We stood up and immediately went down to the garden.
Arriving there, I took a seat in the pavilion. Lady Octavi picked up a spare wooden sword from the rack at the side of the garden and approached Alecia.
They began to spar. I watched from the pavilion as they traded blows. Alecia was incredibly aggressive, attacking relentlessly. Meanwhile, Lady Octavi only used her left hand—her non-dominant hand—to block all the attacks with ease.
Since I was not familiar with swords, I didn't really know how well Alecia was performing.
"Adel," I asked the maid standing beside me, "what do you think about Alecia?"
"I think she is great," Adel replied, watching intently. "She may be better than the Young Master."
"Really! It is great that she finds something interesting for her, even though it is a sword. Beside being left alone in the street... How about the other two?"
"I think Aelia finds interest in His Grace's affairs, and Alicia finds interest in Madam's affairs."
"I don't know if Alicia finds interest in Mother's affairs," I mused. "I find her more timid and shy."
"That is why she is interested in Madam's affairs," Adel said enigmatically.
After watching a few more clashes between Lady Octavi and Alecia, I had another thought.
"Adel, you said you are familiar with holding a sword. How about you replace Lady Octavi as a sparring partner?"
"If that is what My Lady wants, I will oblige."
Adel walked toward them. Lady Octavi noticed her approach and signaled Alecia to stop. Adel exchanged a few words with them about my wish. Immediately, Lady Octavi looked at me, nodded, and then tapped Alecia's shoulder to whisper some advice.
Adel walked to the side of the garden to retrieve a wooden weapon. She didn't pick a short sword, a rapier, a longsword, or even an axe. She chose a simple short dagger.
Adel returned to the center, and Lady Octavi walked over to the pavilion to sit with me.
Adel took her stance. It was different from Lady Octavi's rigid posture. It was more relaxed and light. She held the dagger in the air with her left hand, while her right hand was tucked behind her back, disabled.
Alecia started to move. She dashed toward Adel and swung her sword with all her might.
Thwack!
In a split second, Alecia's sword was on the ground. I didn't even see Adel make a significant move; her stance hadn't seemed to change at all.
I turned to Lady Octavi beside me. She had her hand on her forehead, shaking her head. I heard her mutter a curse under her breath.
"What the hell is she doing? Not even holding back a single bit toward that child."
Alecia immediately picked up her sword and started again.
And again. And again.
"What is going on with Alecia's sword?" I asked Lady Octavi.
"It got deflected, then she parried it," she explained.
"With that quick time?"
"Yes."
Alecia kept trying to land a hit on Adel, but every time, her sword ended up on the grass. Again, again, and again.
I decided I had watched enough. I walked toward them with Lady Octavi beside me. Adel noticed us and immediately signaled Alecia to stop.
"I think it is enough," I said to Adel. "It was great that you showed me your familiarity with the sword." I glanced at her left hand. "I think it is more familiarity toward the dagger."
She just nodded at me.
I turned my face to Alecia, who was lying on the ground, exhausted from the one-sided spar. I bent down to her level.
"Great work sparring."
"Sigh... thank... sigh... you," she panted.
Watching them spar gave me an idea. I looked at Adel and Lady Octavi.
"You two… how about you spar each other? So Alecia can learn from your sparring."
Their expressions immediately changed. They looked at each other with sharp eyes.
Lady Octavi spoke first. "Hohhhhhooohoo… I think it is a great idea. Right, Adel?"
"I agree," Adel answered flatly.
"Great."
We gave Alecia a moment to catch her breath. Then, Alecia and I moved to the side and sat on the grass, abandoning the pavilion for a closer view.
Adel walked toward Alecia, took her wooden sword, and tossed it to Lady Octavi.
In front of the wooden sword, Lady Octavi looked down, kicked the wood away with her boot, and stared at Adel.
"Come on, Adel!! You know there is a better way than this wood."
"What are you talking about?" Adel asked in a flat tone.
"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about..."
"Honestly, I don't know what you mean, Lady Octavi."
"Is it because My Lady is here?"
Adel didn't reply.
Lady Octavi immediately unsheathed her real sword from the scabbard on her hip. The metal sang as it cleared the sheath.
Lady Octavi smirked. "Don't be so blunt, Adel!" It seemed she was looking down on the maid.
Adel raised her wooden dagger with her left hand.
This agitated Lady Octavi. She looked at me. "My Lady, can you order her to unsheathe her weapon out?"
I found her words confusing. "What weapons are you talking about?"
"It is beneath her skirt," Lady Octavi said, pointing with her blade. "There must be a weapon for her."
"How do you know about that?"
"I always notice it while we are walking together… Can you please order her to take it out, My Lady?"
"Alright, if you say so…" I turned my face to Adel. "If what Lady Octavi said is true, I think it is great if you take it out. Lady Octavi uses her own sword; it is not right if you use that wooden dagger."
Lady Octavi smirked at Adel. Adel frowned deeply back at her.
"Sigh."
Adel lifted her skirt. Beneath the fabric, attached to her garter belts, were several daggers. She reached down and drew one, the steel glinting in the sun.
"Lady Octavi, you know that I hide these weapons for a reason, right?"
She raised the real dagger with her right hand and took a stance different from when she sparred with Alecia. She raised her right hand with the dagger in the air, and her left hand was not behind her back this time—it was raised too, mirroring the right.
"Finally, you show it. And in front of My Lady," Lady Octavi taunted, swirling her sword.
She immediately took an Alber stance, her sword pointing to the ground in front of her hip.
"Lady Octavi," Adel said coldly, "honestly, I don't want to hate you… but I think this time you are crossing the line."
"Well, I know the reason why you hide the weapon. Because it is your job. Work in the shadows, right?"
"I think that is enough, Lady Octavi. If you keep going beyond the line, it can make me hate you more than ever."
"So you mean it is alright for your liege that you serve without knowing you? Especially your former—"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a dagger flew past Lady Octavi's head at incredible speed. It sliced through a few strands of her hair and embedded itself deep into the wall of the house with a loud thud.
Adel showed an expression I had never seen before. She looked beyond angry.
"I know you are a Viscount, and you are of the Claudi Gens who stay side by side under my liege family Aurelius," Adel hissed, her voice trembling with rage. "But there is a boundary that you should not seek in your liege family, especially their servants. Your words were beyond that boundary."
She stepped forward.
"I am here as a servant and personal maid for My Lady. It means the liege that you serve acknowledged and recognized me for this duty, no matter what past and background I have—which my liege knew from the beginning. You, questioning my background... it means you are questioning the one who you serve… Octavi."
It seemed this sparring had become personal. Deadly personal.
Should I stop this?